Yep, coaches are free to hire anyone they like & vacate whatever contract they sign, but an 18 year old is a mangy varmint for changing his mind after signing his LOI even if a coach hits the trail for greener pastures…Go figure…

I normally wouldn’t ask someone to do this, but I’ve used up my free articles at the Tribune, would you mind copying the text and pasting it here? Thanks.

Just delete your cookies on a PC or clear your browser cache and cookies on a phone (in privacy settings). Do it while not having extra open browser windows. That should restart your count of free ones. Handy for NYT and WPost, too.

David HaughContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Here’s the story-that site didn’t want to let me copy it either-kept asking me to sign up for a “free” subscription.

"For as much heat as hotshot recruit Jeremiah Tilmon took after asking to be released from his national letter of intent, Illinois fans actually should thank the young man.
The overreaction to Tilmon’s news overshadowed Illinois’ hiring of an assistant coach fired at South Florida in the midst of an NCAA investigation into academic fraud.
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Orlando Antigua lost his job in January, only two and a half seasons into a tenure defined by turmoil. If the 23-55 record and 13 players leaving the USF program wasn’t troubling enough, an ongoing NCAA investigation that began last summer prompted the resignation of his younger brother, Oliver, one of his assistants. Of all the college basketball assistants new Illini coach Brad Underwood could have hired, he chose one already on the NCAA radar.
Granted, the Antigua story almost begs for a screenwriter. Raised with two brothers in the Bronx by a single mom from the Dominican Republic, Antigua survived getting shot in the face as a teenager and followed basketball to prosperity as a Harlem Globetrotter and, eventually, a college coach. The USF chapter of his life one day might qualify as the exception to the rule. Or it could end up being the one that exposed Antigua for using poor judgment when he didn’t have an elite program like Kentucky to sell recruits. Underwood seems willing to gamble the reward will be worth any risk, despite having no previous connection to Antigua other than recruiting competitor.
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Illini sympathizers argue that the affable Antigua spent six years on coach John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky, recruiting future NBA stars such as Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns and John Wall. The names speak for themselves. But so do the letters NCAA, which are likely to follow Antigua from Tampa to Champaign. To ignore that possibility, as one central Illinois newspaper did in reporting Antigua’s hiring without mentioning the NCAA investigation, falls somewhere between naive and irresponsible.
Perhaps none of this would resonate as much had an Illinois spokesman not issued a statement defending the move with lofty rhetoric that raised an eyebrow.
"We thoroughly vet every coaching hire we make,’’ it said. "Our integrity and reputation as a department are of the utmost importance.’‘
Really? This is how college athletic programs invite cynicism. Please stop the sanctimony. Preserving Illinois’ integrity and reputation had much less to do with hiring a proven recruiter under NCAA investigation than making NCAA tournaments. Just say so. If hiring one of the country’s most dynamic recruiters, whatever his past, represents Illinois wanting to enter a new realm under Underwood, own it. Also, resist referencing Missouri — which added the father of national player of the year Michael Porter Jr. to its staff to lure the recruit — because one program’s questionable judgment never should justify another’s.

A truer statement would have been: "We realize what Coach Antigua has been accused of by the NCAA but believe in his ability to gain access to elite high school talent that will help us become a perennial winner again.’‘
In both of athletic director Josh Whitman’s major coaching hires since taking over in March 2016, Whitman reached out to candidates before the job was officially vacant. Those decisions revealed Whitman’s aggressiveness, foresight and commitment to win and could be lauded. But if you asked fired coaches Bill Cubit or John Groce, neither preemptive move enhanced Illinois’ integrity or reputation. It was like hearing North Carolina coach Roy Williams laud his program’s academic record after winning another national championship despite evidence that suggests otherwise. Sometimes saying nothing beats defending the indefensible.
Which brings us to Tilmon, the 6-foot-10 phenom who changed the complexion of Illinois’ top-15 recruiting class with an Instagram post.
"Thank you University of Illinois athletics for understanding my position as a future student-athlete that signed to play for Coach Groce but has requested release from NLI since coaching changes,’’ the note read.

Every time a big-time recruit changes his mind, it reminds us of one of the most hypocritical inconsistencies of college sports. Coaches like Underwood can change jobs and break contracts after one year, and new fan bases welcome them with open arms, yet when teenagers change their minds, hell comes to breakfast.
Tilmon is 18. Yes, on Tuesday he retweeted the original commitment he made last July, viewed by some unforgiving Illinois fans and media as reconfirming his allegiance. Alas, it wasn’t. Deal with it, Illini Nation. If your program hinges on one recruit saying yes, your program needs much more than one recruit.
Regardless of whether Tilmon changed high schools or wavered enough to be called a diva, or worse, in the social-media barrage, he remains a teenager prone to waking up feeling different about the world today than he did yesterday. How many Illini fans who criticized Tilmon for asking for his release embraced Underwood after he left Oklahoma State one year into a five-year deal?
The decisions by Tilmon and Underwood can be explained easier than a university that says it cares about academics hiring an assistant coach NCAA investigators already know well."